


Phone Call

by waterbird13



Series: Tumblr Fics [393]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Claire is angry, Gen, Homelessness, and has the right to be, ish, s10, underage runaway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-26 19:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9917813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterbird13/pseuds/waterbird13
Summary: Cas takes a courtesy phone call from Claire as an invitation.





	

It’s five months before she sees Castiel again.

She just meant it to be a phone call, but apparently the angel doesn’t really understand  _space_ and  _I don’t fucking want you here_ , so as soon as he has a lock on her location, he shows up.

He stares for a moment, and she ducks her head, a leftover product of the days where she had hair to hide behind.

She knows she looks different. For one thing, all the hair is gone. It had physically pained her to cut it–her father had loved her hair, used to pet it while they watched TV and would brush it for her before bed–but she knew it had to go the first time someone grabbed on and wouldn’t let go. The makeup is gone. Makeup is expensive. 

She’s leaner, hungrier. Colder, older. She’s simultaneously more broken and more put together than she was the last time Castiel saw her, on the side of the road.

She frowns. “I said we could call. Call. Over the phone.”

Castiel shrugs. “I did not imagine you would take so long.”

“Yeah, well. Next time, listen. We do this on my terms, okay?”

He frowns. “Last time we spoke, you said we would keep contact.”

“Yeah,” she says, “ _on my terms_. Mine. I set the rules.”

Cas hesitates a moment before nodding. “I…apologize. Would you like me to leave?”

She sighs. “No. You’re here. You can stay a few minutes.”

The rest stop is pretty much deserted, so they can chat in relative privacy. No one is going to notice the weird angel. And, besides, there’s no one here to give her a ride on yet.

“How…how have you been?” Castiel asks.

She shrugs. “How do you think? It’s cold out there. Sometimes there isn’t much food. People suck. I deal with it.”

“We were willing to offer you a home,” Castiel says. “We still are.”

“Super,” she says, voice dripping sarcasm. “Living with the guy  _wearing my dead dad’s body_. Just what I want. Oh, and the guy who killed my friends. And that other guy, who just kind of let it all happen. All three of you trying to be my new dad. Just super. No, thanks. I’ll take my chances.”

Cas shrugs, then. “You called, Claire. I thought you might want to come back.”

“Never,” she says firmly. “No, no. No. I won’t go back.”

“I won’t make you,” he says.

She has to restrain the  _I’d like to see you try_ –a tried and true response, now–because she remembers that this man is an angel and can, in fact, make her do a great many things.

“I thought I’d tell you I was alive,” she says, pushing back her chair. “Next time, a phone call is just a phone call. If there is a next time. Don’t follow me.”

“Wait,” he says, and she turns towards him. He shoves a wad of crumpled bills into her hands.

She debates rejecting them but decides against it. Everything costs money.

She gives a half-hearted salute. “See ya around, Castiel,” she says, walking out of the rest stop.


End file.
